FEAST OF STS. PHILIP AND JAMES, APOSTLES
Psalter: Proper / (Red)
Ps 19:2-3, 4-5
Their message goes out through all the earth.
1st Reading: 1 Cor 15:1-8
Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the Good News that I preached to you, and which you received, and on which, you stand firm. By that Gospel, you are saved, provided that you hold to it, as I preached it. Otherwise, you will have believed in vain.
In the first place, I have passed on to you what I, myself, received: that Christ died for our sins, as Scripture says; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. Afterward, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters together; most of them are still alive, although some have already gone to rest. Then he appeared to James, and after that, to all the apostles. And last of all, he appeared to the most despicable of them, this is, to me.
Gospel: Jn 14:6-14
Jesus said, ”I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me. If you know me, you will know the Father also; indeed you know him, and you have seen him.”
Philip asked him, ”Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough.” Jesus said to him, ”What! I have been with you so long and you still do not know me Philip? Whoever sees me sees the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father‘? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
”All that I say to you, I do not say of myself. The Father who dwells in me is doing his own work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; at least believe it on the evidence of these works that I do.
”Truly, I say to you, the one who believes in me will do the same works that I do; and he will even do greater than these, for I am going to the Father. Everything you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Indeed, anything you ask, calling upon my name, I will do it.”
REFLECTION:
The mystery of our unity is deeper than that which separates us to one another because this is founded on the unity of God who created us. Jesus is united to Father in a level so deep that we are in front of a mystery. We comprehend a portion of it but the greater part is still to be discovered. That is why we only have partial understanding. We could not fault Philip who stumbles and falls in making out the unity of the Father to the Son. He still asked to see the Father while in front of Him is the human face of the Father in the person of Jesus. This kind of knowledge grows with time. Philip was not yet strong in faith to have this deep knowledge of the unity of the Father and the Son. His journey ahead is still long. Let us not therefore lose patience in our own journey of faith. There are realities so big that even a journey of one life time is not enough to contain it.
Daily Reflection
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
Readings and Reflections
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